can crusher -



Patented July 15, 1952 UNITED STATES CAN CRUSHER Herbert L. Voigt and Jose waukee County, Wis.,

Paeschke & Frey (30.,

poration of Wisconsin Application January 12, 1950, Serial No. 138,234 Claims. .(Cl. 153-105) This invention relates to devices for crushing cans and particularly to a simple can crusher which requires little relative force and completes the crushing in a single stroke.

Many businesses use canned goods in large quantities and have, therefore, the constant probleni of disposal of the empty cans. Since a crushed or flattened can occupies about one-fifth the space taken by a whole can it will be appre elated that the disposal problem is greatly simplified when the cans are crushed. While can crushers have been manufactured in the past, they have been expensive, clumsy, elaborate, or difilcult to operate since great forces or many movements were necessary. The present crusher is a practical solution to the need and overcomes the objections to the prior art devices.

An object of this invention is to provide a man-. ually operable can crusher which may be used with ease.

Another object is to provide a safe, simple, strong can crusher which may be manufactured atlow cost.

Another object is to provide a can crusher which prevents can slippage during the crush-. ing operation.

A further object is to providea novel crusher plate which reduces the force necessary to initiate collapse of a cylindrical object.

A still further object is to provide a can crusherj: adapted to be readily secured to a drumand having simple means for preventing relative movement between the drum and the crusher.

Still a further object is to provide a can crusher employing a multiple leverage permitting the crusher plates to remain generally parallel at all times while securing great forces on the plates with a relatively small force on the operating arm. 7

Other objects and advantages will be pointed out in,;or be apparent from, the specification and claims,,as will obvious modifications of the single embodiment shown in the drawings, in which:

:.-:,Fig.i1.is a side elevation of the can crusher mounted in a drum and illustrates the top of the stroke;.'.

' Fig. 2 is similar toFig. 1 but shows the positionof the plates near the end of the crushing stroke; 7

Fig. 3 is a top view of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a section of part of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings in detail, th crusher has a. base comprising two steel members l0, l0 connected by means of bottom crusher plate I 4 and a member which includes a horizontal porthe base.

ph Siczkiew icz, Jr., Milassignors to Geuder,

Milwaukee, Wis., a cortionl2 and vertical leg 13 between the members it, Hi and vertical pivot supporting legs 36,36 on the outside of members I 0, It. The left-hand ends or the front of members l0, ID are relatively widely spaced to avoid interference with power arm at and to render the device stable. The bot tom or base crusher plate I l has transverse angular or V-shaped ridges it, Hi which are adapted to position an empty can transversely of the base. An upright channel member 20 at the rear of each base member l0 serves to support pivot 22 for the generally U-shaped lever 24. An upper crusher plate 25, welded to the underside of lever 24, has an angular or V-shaped ridge 28 which is adapted to strike the'curved surface of the can to initiate the crushing action and reduce the force necessary to start the crushmg. 1

Each leg 32 of the bifurcated power arm 3Elis pivoted at 34 on legs 36 projecting upwardly from Each power arm leg 32 is connected by means of link 38 which pivots on the legs 32 at 40 and is pivotally connected to lever 24 by means of a pin 42 projecting laterally between the upper surface of the crusher plate ridge 28 and the semi-circular cut-out portion 144 in lever 24. Thus the lever plate ridge 28 serves to initiate the crushing movement and additionally serves as a bearing for pin 42. The lower arcuate side 46 of link 38 is adapted to bear against the upper rear surface of the lever plate ridge to limit upward movement of the lever and of the power arm and thereby prevent raising the power arm to a position where it might remain momentarily, thus constituting a hazard inthe'event the arm should drop and strike the 0p! erator. It is to be noted that the upper crusher plate 26 and thepower arm are cooperatively notched at 48 and 50 to avoid interference as the arm is raised to its limit. Since the power applied to' arm 30 is'transmitted to the lever 26 and crusher plate '26 through link 38 at the ridge 28 there'is little stress applied to the lever pivot 22 and the leverv acts principally as a guide for the upper crusher plate. Since the crusher plate pivots about point- 22 on a long arm, the angle between the two crusher, plates is rather small and the great majority of the force is vertical and useful rather than resolving into wasted horizontal compo: nents. Since the pivot point 22 is elevated with respect to the base of crusher plate It the crusher. plates pass through parallelism during the crushing stroke, as may be seen by comparing Figs. 1 and 2, thus insuring a small angle between the o lever 24 plates. In addition to being wasted force, the horizontal component additionally tends to move the can from between the crusher plates. Any such tendency in the instant devic is prevented by the forward transverse ridge 16 in the base plate. This ridge also cooperates with the rear ridge [8 in positioning the can with respect to the upper plate ridge 28. The angular ridge on the upper crusher plate materially reduces the force required as compared to the conventional flat plate. Since power its pivot point, great forces maybeapplied to the upper crusher plate without requiring an excessively long arm.

It will be seen that the instant device employs a leverage system making it possible to apply great force to the crusher plate while requiring a relatively small force at the end of'a "short power arm. The force applied to the crusher plate is principally vertical throughout the entire crushing stroke. The provision of the angular ridge 28 onthe upper crusher plate materially reduces the amount of force necessary to initiate and complete the crushing of the can which is held in place by the ridges on the lower plate.

This can crusher is conveniently used whenm'ountedon top of an open drum 52into which the crushed cans may be dropped. The base members l0, l are adapted to rest on and span the open end of all standard drum sizes. Since the application of power to arm 30 tends to tilt the mechanism counterclockwise. as seen in the drawings, the crusher is preferably secured .to the .drum by'means of a U-shaped mounting bracketjl. bolted t'c the vertical leg of channel l2: ,One depending bracket leg 56 is adapted to fit inside the drum and is provided with a depression or a counter-sunk holefill'aligried with the threaded hole in the otherileg outside the drum. A bolt 64 may then be tightened togrip the drum wall and deform the-drum wall'into the depression 58' to rigidly clamp the crusher on the drum. If the depression 'werenot pro-" vided it will be appreciated'thata single point grip between thebracket'and the drum would. be veryweak;

All parts of this crusher are preferably heavy steel toinsure long life. .The parts arewelded and many serve several purposes. Thus the 'up-' per plate and lever provide bearing surfaces for the'pivot pins tions'. Similarly legs 38, .36 'strengthenthe base as well as serving 'as the fulcrum for the power arm. The ridge in the upper plate starts the crushing action and cooperates with the link to serve 'as a safety stop. It will be appreciated, therefore, that this device permits of modification' without departing from the spirit of the invention. With this in mind the invention'is to be'limited only by the scope of the claims. awe claim:

1. In a can crusher, a base, a crusher plate on saidbase, a lever pivotally connected to saidbase, a crusher plate mounted on said-lever to coop erate with the base plate in crushing'bans, a generally V-sh'aped ridge projecting downwardly from said lever 'plate substantiallyparalll"to the axis of the pivot connection between the'lever and the base, a ridge projecting upwardly from the base'plate' parallel to the lever plate ridge and being further from the pivot 'connectionto position a can for initial crushing by the lever in addition to their other rune is taken off arm 30 near ije'cting from the link is formed with an arcuate plate ridge and to prevent the can from slipping from between the plates, the pivot connection between said lever and said base being above the plane of said base plate so the lever plate passes through parallelism with the base plate as the lever is moved through the crushing 's troke, a power arm pivotally connected to the base, a link pivotally connected to said arm, and a pin prolink into the space between said lever plate ridge and said lever to pivotally connect the link to the lever.

' 2.-A crusher according to claim 1 in which said surface adapted to strike'an upper surface of said lever plate ridge as the le'ver'is raised to limit upward movement of the lever.

3. Ina can crusher, a base, a crusher plate on said base, a lever pivotally connected to said base, a crusher plate mounted on said lever to cooperate with the base plate in crushing cans, agenerally V-shaped ridge projecting downwardly from said lever plate and being substantially parallel to the axis of the pivot connectionbetween the lever and the base, apower arm pivotally connected to the base, {a link pivotally connected'to said arm, a pin projecting from the link into the space between said plate ridge and said lever to pivotally connect the link to the lever.

4. A crusheraccording to claim 3 in which-said linkis formed with an arcuate surface adapted to strike an upper surface of said leverplateridge as the lever is raised tolimit upward movement of the lever.

5. In a can crusher, a baSeLacruSherplateon said base and having two pa-rallel ridges projecting upwardly therefrom to position .a' can Jon the plate, a lever pivotally connected vto said base, the axis of the pivot connection between said lever and said base being, parallel to- .said ridges and above the plane of said baseplate so the lever passes through parallelism .with the baseplate as the lever is moved through the crushing stroke, acrusher plate mountedcpnsai'd lever and having a downwardly projecting V-shaped ridge parallel to' the base plateridges and'adapted to cooperate therewith in crushin'z a can, a manually. operated arm pivotally con nected to said base, and a link pivot'ali'y connected to said lever and said arm' to transmit force to the lever plate.

' HERBERT L. VOIGT.

J OSEPH SICZKIEWICZ', Jn.

REFERENCES CITED Thefollowing references are of record in the fileof this patent! UNITEl) STATES PAT EN'1 S Great Britain of 19 08 

